1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manual inputting device which is used, for example, for manipulation of an electric apparatus mounted on a vehicle and is capable of imparting a manipulation feeling to a manipulator who manipulates a manipulating member in response to a rotational quantity or a rotational direction of the manipulating member such as a knob which is manually manipulated.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, electric apparatuses such as an air conditioner, a radio, a television set, an audio set and the like are mounted on an automobile, for example. To manipulate these electric apparatuses using different manipulation means respectively, this may hamper the driving of the automobile. Accordingly, to prevent the interruption of driving, the temperature control of the air conditioner, the control of a tuner of the radio, the control of sound volume and sound quality of the television set, the radio and the audio set are performed using a single manual inputting device. As this type of manual inputting device, there has been known a manual inputting device which enhances the operability of a manipulating member which is manually manipulated, for example, a knob by imparting a given manipulation feeling to the knob gripped by a manipulator in response to a rotational amount and a rotational direction of the knob, for example.
The conventional manual inputting devices is explained in conjunction with the drawing hereinafter.
FIG. 9 is an explanatory view for explaining a basic constitution of the conventional manual inputting device.
The conventional manual inputting device includes a knob 80 which is manually operated, a motor 10 which imparts a given manipulation feeling in response to a rotational direction and a rotational amount of the knob 80, a detection means which detects the rotational amount of the knob 80 and a control means which controls the motor 10 in response to a detection result obtained from the detection means.
The detection means is constituted of a large pulley 200 which is fixed to an output shaft 11 of the motor 10, a small pulley 201, a belt 202 which is wound around the large pulley 200 and the small pulley 201 and an encoder 30.
The encoder 30 includes a code plate 31 which is provided with a plurality of slits not shown in the drawing along a circumference thereof and is integrally rotated with the small pulley 201 and a light emitting section 35 and a light receiving section 36 which are arranged to face each other in an opposed manner while sandwiching the code plate 31. The light receiving section 36 outputs detection signals corresponding to the rotational direction and the rotational amount of the knob 80 to a control unit 100 which constitutes the control means of the motor 10.
The control unit 100 includes an input section 101 to which the detection signals are inputted from the light receiving section 36, a memory 103 which prestores control signals of the motor 10 corresponding to the detection signals in a form of a table, an arithmetic operation section 102 which reads out the control signals stored in the memory 103 in response to the detection signals and an output section 104 which outputs the control signals read out by the arithmetic operation section 102 to the motor 10.
With respect to the conventional manual inputting device having such a constitution, when the knob 80 is rotated, the code plate 31 is rotated by way of the large pulley 200 and the small pulley 201. Then, the light receiving section 36 receives light from the light emitting section 35 which has passed through the slit and outputs the detection signal to the input section 101 of the control unit 100. In the arithmetic operation section 102, the control signal is read out from the memory 103 in response to the detection signal. This control signal is outputted to the motor 10 from the output section 104. Accordingly, the motor 10 transmits a rotational force to the knob 80 by way of the output shaft 11 in response to the rotational amount and the rotational direction of the knob 80.
With respect to the knob 80 to which the rotational force is imparted in the above-mentioned manner, when a manipulator turns the knob 80 in the direction that the sound volume is increased at the time of adjusting the sound volume of a radio, for example, the rotational force in the direction opposite to such a rotational direction is imparted to the knob 80 by the motor 10 so that a feeling of resistance is imparted to the manipulator. On the other hand, when the manipulator turns the knob 80 in the direction which lowers the sound volume, the rotational force in the direction equal to the rotational direction is imparted to the knob 80 by the motor 10 so that the manipulator receives a feeling of acceleration.
With respect to the conventional manual inputting device, in an attempt to make the device compact and light-weighted, since the large pulley 200 and the small pulley 201 are arranged in parallel, it is possible to make these large pulley 200 and small pulley 201 small-sized. However, when the small pulley 201 is made excessively small, a contact area with the belt 202 is reduced so that the transmission efficiency of rotation from the large pulley 200 is lowered. Accordingly, there exists a limit in the reduction of the size of the small pulley 201. Further, when the rotation of the knob 80 is detected while increasing the resolution to some extent, since the resolution is determined by a ratio between the diameter of the small pulley 201 and the diameter of the large pulley 200, along with the fact that the reduction of size of the small pulley 201 is impossible, the diameter of the large pulley 200 is liable to be increased.
Further, when the size of the knob 80 is increased to some extent to facilitate the gripping thereof, the motor 10 which is directly connected to the knob 80 is forced to output a torque which matches the size of the knob 80. Accordingly, the motor 10 is also liable to become large-sized.
In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, it is difficult to make the conventional manual inputting device small-sized and light-weighted and hence, the conventional manual inputting device is not suitable for installing the device in a limited space in the inside of an automobile or the like.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks and it is an object of the present invention to provide a manual inputting device which can make the device small-sized and light-weighted.
To achieve the above-mentioned object, the manual inputting device of the present invention includes: a manipulating member which is manually operated and transmits signals corresponding to a rotational amount derived from the manual manipulation; a motor which imparts a given feeling of manipulation to the manipulating member in response to the rotational amount derived from the manual operation; the manual inputting device of this invention further includes a planetary gear mechanism having a sun gear, planet gears, a ring gear, a carrier and a carrier shaft; a fixing member which fixes the ring gear of the planetary gear mechanism; detection means which detects a rotational amount of an output shaft of the motor; and control means which controls rotation of the motor in response to a detection result of the detection means, wherein an output shaft of the motor is integrally formed with the sun gear, and the manipulating member is integrally formed with the carrier shaft of the planetary gear mechanism.
In the manual inputting device having such a constitution, when the manipulating member is rotated in the clockwise direction, for example, the carrier shaft, that is, the carrier which is rotated integrally with the manipulating member is rotated in the clockwise direction. Here, since the ring gear is always fixed by the fixing member, respective planet gears revolve in the clockwise direction about the sun gear while rotating in the counterclockwise direction. Then, the rotation of the planet gears is transmitted to the sun gear so that the sun gear is rotated in the clockwise direction.
Here, the rotation of the sun gear is increased with respect to the rotation of the manipulating member corresponding to the teeth number ratio between the sun gear and the ring gear. Accordingly, the resolution of the rotational amount of the manipulating member is enhanced. In the detection means, the rotation of the sun gear which is rotated in this manner, that is, the rotation of the output shaft of the motor fixed to the sun gear is detected.
Then, the control means makes the motor output the rotational force in response to a detection result of the detection means. The rotational force, for example, the rotational force in the counterclockwise direction outputted from the motor is transmitted to the planet gears by way of the sun gear. Here, since the ring gear is always fixed to a ring gear casing by way of the fixing member, the rotational force is applied to respective planet gears in the counterclockwise revolving direction about the sun gear as well as in the clockwise rotational direction about their axes. Accordingly, the rotational force in the counterclockwise direction is applied to the carrier, that is, the carrier shaft.
The rotational force of the carrier shaft is increased with respect to the rotational force of the sun gear, that is, the rotational force of the output shaft of the motor which is integrally rotated with the sun gear. The rotational force in the counterclockwise direction which is increased in the above-mentioned manner is applied to the manipulating member. Accordingly, when the manipulator turns the manipulating member in the clockwise direction, the manipulator receives a feeling of resistance as a feeling of manipulation. On the other hand, when the motor is rotated in the clockwise direction, the rotational force in the direction equal to the rotational direction of the motor is imparted to the manipulating member and hence, the manipulator can obtain a feeling of acceleration as the feeling of manipulation.
In the present invention, it is possible to impart a given feeling of manipulation to the manipulator in the above-mentioned manner. Accordingly, the manual inputting device can exhibit the excellent operability in the same manner as the prior art. In addition to such an advantageous effect, since the motor, the planetary gear mechanism, the detection means and the manipulating member can be arranged on the same axis, it is possible to arrange the whole manual inputting device in a compact form. Accordingly, the miniaturization and the reduction of weight of the manual inputting device can be realized.
Further, in the present invention, in detecting the rotation of the manipulating member, it is possible to enhance the resolution of the rotational amount of the manipulating member using the planetary gear mechanism. Further, in imparting the rotational force to the manipulating member, it is possible to impart the rotational force to the manipulating member after increasing the torque outputted from the motor using the planetary gear mechanism. That is, with the use of the planetary gear mechanism, the increase of the torque outputted from the motor and the enhancement of the resolution of the rotational amount of the manipulating member can be achieved with the compact structure. Accordingly, it is also possible to make the manual inputting device small-sized and light-weighted from this aspect.
Further, in the present invention, the manual inputting device may be configured to further include: guide means which movably supports the manipulating member in the axial direction thereof; biasing means which biases the manipulating member in the axial direction; and a switch manipulating portion for operating a given switch in response to movement of the manipulating member against the biasing means.
In the manual inputting device having such a constitution, the manipulating member is always biased in the axial direction by means of the biasing means and is held in place. When the manipulating member which is held in this manner is pushed against the biasing means, the manipulating member is moved while being guided by the guide means. Corresponding to such a movement, the switch manipulating portion comes into contact with the given switch and operates the switch. Thereafter, when the pushing pressure is released from the manipulating member, the manipulating member returns to the above-mentioned given place by means of the biasing means so that the switch manipulating portion is moved away from the switch whereby the switch becomes inoperable.
That is, in the manual inputting means, the switch is operated by pushing the manipulating member and hence, the manipulating member can be used as a push button switch. Accordingly, the number of apparatuses which can be handled by a single manual inputting device can be increased.
Further, the present invention is also directed to a manual inputting device which includes: a manipulating member which is manually rotated and transmits signals corresponding to a rotational amount derived from the rotational manipulation; a motor which imparts a given feeling of manipulation in response to the rotational amount derived from the rotational manipulation; a planetary gear mechanism having a sun gear to which a rotational force is inputted from an output shaft of the motor, a plurality of planet gears which mesh with the sun gear and revolve around the sun gear, a ring gear which has an inner peripheral side thereof meshed with the planet gears, a carrier which is integrally rotated with the revolving planet gears and a carrier shaft which outputs a rotational force of the carrier to the manipulating member; a fixing member which fixes the ring gear of the planetary gear mechanism; detection means which detects a rotational amount of an output shaft of the motor; control means which controls rotation of the motor in response to a detection result of the detection means; and adjusting means which is capable of adjusting meshing of the sun gear and the planet gears.
In the manual inputting device having such a constitution, the sun gear and the planet gears can be adjusted in the properly meshed state by the adjusting means and hence, the occurrence of the excessive backlash derived from play between components can be prevented whereby the high transmission efficiency can be ensured between the manipulating member and the output shaft of the motor.
Further, in the present invention, the adjusting means may be provided with support means which supports the sun gear in a tiltable manner and may form either one of the sun gear or the planet gears in a barrel shape.
In the manual inputting device having such a constitution, it is possible to make the sun gear and the planet gears meshed with each other in a state that the center of rotation of the sun gear is obliquely disposed with respect to the center of revolution of the planetary gears by tilting the sun gear. Accordingly, the displacement between the output shaft of the motor and the carrier shaft can be eliminated.
Further, in the present invention, the support means may include: a first rotary body which is fixed to the output shaft of the motor; a the second rotary body which is fixed to the sun gear and is engaged and integrally rotated with the first rotary body; and engaging means which makes the first rotary body and the second rotary body engaged with each other such that the second rotary body is tiltably supported and also makes the first rotary body and the second rotary body engaged with each other such that the rotary bodies are integrally rotated.
In the manual inputting device having such a constitution, not only is it possible to make the first rotary body and the second rotary body engage with each other by means of the engaging means such that the sun gear is tiltable, but also it is possible to rotate the first rotary body and the second rotary body integrally so that the rotational force outputted from the output shaft can be surely inputted to the sun gear.
Further, in the present invention, the support means may include a projection which is mounted on a center of rotation of one of the first rotary body and the second rotary body and the recess which is formed in a center of rotation of the other rotary body and is brought into slide contact with the projection.
In the manual inputting device having such a constitution, the force in the direction toward the center of rotation which is imparted to the sun gear can be received by the first rotary body and hence, it is possible to surely hold the sun gear and the planet gears in the properly meshed state.
Further, in the present invention, the detection means may include a code plate which is integrally rotated with the output shaft of the motor and the code plate may be integrally formed with the first rotary body.
The manual inputting device having such a constitution can reduce the number of parts.